CAREER: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital Accumulation

摘要：利用实地实验确定劳动力市场成功和人力资本积累的障碍本项目旨在确定阻碍工人在劳动力市场上取得成功的障碍：特别是阻止工人向潜在雇主展示技能的障碍和阻止工人获得重要技能的障碍。第一个项目考察了劳动力市场新进入者面临的两难境地：没有工作经验的人很难找到工作，但没有工作经验的人很难获得工作经验。这个项目测试向雇主提供更多关于工人能力的信息是否可以通过使雇主更愿意雇用他们来改善他们的劳动力市场结果。第二个项目考察了失业工人面临的两难境地。因为雇主把失业作为工人能力的一个不利信号，工人失业的时间越长，他们就越难找到工作。这个项目测试帮助工人通过短期、兼职工作或志愿服务来填补简历空白是否能改善他们在劳动力市场的表现。前两个项目测试了劳动力市场中信息壁垒的重要性，而第三个项目测试了简单资源壁垒的重要性。尽管高中高级课程与更好的后续成果有关，但许多低收入高中学生在高中没有机会上高级课程。在线课程被认为是填补这一资源缺口的一种方式。本项目旨在研究为学生提供高级在线课程是否可以改善他们随后的教育成果。它还分析了这些在线课程的效果与面对面的相同课程的效果相比如何。这一议程的智力价值在于运用严格的实验证据来回答这些问题。这三个项目都采用随机现场实验。这些项目应该提高我们对劳动力市场和教育环境的理解。例如，关于雇主了解员工能力的理论文献很多，但关于不同信号如何影响雇主信念和员工成果的实证证据却很少。同样，关于在线课程能够提高学生获得高质量教育的能力，也有很多猜测，但关于这一主题的经验证据却很少。这一议程的更广泛影响在于确定能够改善弱势群体劳动力市场结果的政策和做法。这一议程的一个优先事项是将研究成果传播给实践者和决策者，并训练学生进行高质量的研究。

Abstract: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital AccumulationThis project aims to identify barriers preventing workers from succeeding in the labor market: in particular, barriers that prevent workers from demonstrating their skills to potential employers and barriers that prevent workers from gaining important skills. The first project examines a Catch 22 that new labor market entrants face: it's difficult for them to get a job without prior experience, but it's difficult to get experience without a prior job. This project tests whether providing more information to employers about workers' aptitudes can improve their labor market outcomes by making employers more willing to hire them. The second project examines a Catch 22 that displaced workers face. Because employers use unemployment as an adverse signal of worker ability, the longer workers are out of work, the harder it becomes for them to find a job. This project tests whether helping workers fill in their resume gaps with short-term, part-time employment or volunteering can improve their labor market outcomes. While the first two projects test for the importance of information barriers in labor markets, the third tests the importance of a simple resource barrier. Despite the fact that advanced high school classes have been linked to better subsequent outcomes, many low-income high school students do not have access to advanced classes at their high schools. Online classes have been proposed as one way to fill this resource gap. This project examines whether providing students with access to advanced online classes can improve their subsequent educational outcomes. It also analyzes how the effects of these online classes compare to the effects of in-person versions of the same classes.The intellectual merit of this agenda lies in applying rigorous experimental evidence to answer these questions. All three projects utilize randomized field experiments. These projects should improve our understanding of labor markets and educational settings. For example, there is a long theoretical literature on employer learning about worker abilities, but less empirical evidence on how different signals affect employers' beliefs and worker outcomes. Similarly, there is a lot of speculation about the ability of online classes to improve students' access to high-quality education, but less empirical evidence on this topic. The broader impacts of this agenda lie in identifying policies and practices that can improve the labor market outcomes of disadvantaged groups. A priority of this agenda is to disseminate the results of the research to practitioners and policy-makers and to train students to conduct high-quality research.